More than just code review
<p>The key skill required to make productive use of coding agents is being able to confidently instruct them on how to make changes and then confidently verify that those changes have been applied in the correct way.</p> <p>Sometimes this involves reviewing every line of code they have written, but there are other ways to achieve that goal. Eyeballing every line of code has never been the most effective way to validate a chance to a piece of software.</p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/code-review">code-review</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/coding-agents">coding-agents</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/generative-ai">generative-ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/agentic-engineering">agentic-engineering</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai">ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/llms">llms</a></p>
More than just code review
Simon Willison’s Weblog
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22nd August 2026
The key skill required to make productive use of coding agents is being able to confidently instruct them on how to make changes and then confidently verify that those changes have been applied in the correct way.
Sometimes this involves reviewing every line of code they have written, but there are other ways to achieve that goal. Eyeballing every line of code has never been the most effective way to validate a chance to a piece of software.
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This is a note by Simon Willison, posted on 22nd August 2026.
code-review 15
ai 2,198
generative-ai 1,947
llms 1,914
coding-agents 240
agentic-engineering 59
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